Paul Anthony

Tuesday, 10 April 2018

A big welcome today to Wayne Zurl – a retired detective and well-known author from America who I have admired and respected for some years. Wayne has keenly supported a number of charity anthologies published here in the UK and I know that quite a few British writersand readers will be aware of his work. Like myself, they'll be looking forward to his next book. Okay, let's talk to our guest.

Q. Wayne, as you publish your next book (A
BLEAK PROSPECT) I ask you to pause a moment and tell us a little about your
police career in America before you took up writing?

A. I worked on Long Island for twenty years. Our jurisdiction
picked up just fifteen miles from the New York City boundary. Long island is
crowded, busy and a place where a cop would often encounter any offense listed
in the penal law from the class B misdemeanour of public lewdness to the class
A felony of intentional murder.

I spent three and a half years in uniform and the remainder
in plainclothes. Working organized crime cases provided the most fun, but the
years spent as a section commander is probably what makes me most proud of
myself. I worked with and supervised a bunch of talented and dedicated
investigators. I will always thank them for making my professional life easier.

Q. Do you still miss the job?

A.I retired in a frenzy. Our house sold quickly and the buyer
was in a hurry to close and move in before it was convenient for us. But I
didn’t want to jeopardize the sale and ended up taking a few of my unused sick
days to retire before my actual anniversary date. The day after I handed over
the house keys, we put the dog in the car and followed a moving van from New
York to Tennessee. A week after relocating, we began the process of finding a
builder (and all the logistics attached to constructing a new home) to put a
house on the five acres of land we owned in the foothills of the Great Smoky
Mountains. So, I really didn’t allow myself time to miss the job. Honestly
though, I felt a little empty and missed the people I worked with for two or
three weeks before my new job of building coordinator took my mind off being a
policeman.

When I worked as a cop, I rarely watched police shows or
movies. I was too critical about the authenticity. Now, because of the
nostalgia factor attached, I’m almost addicted to watching the reruns of NYPD
Blue on a cable channel. They make me miss the job and remember how much fun
being a cop was. NYPD BLUE started its long run a year after I retired. I still
think it’s the most authentic cop show ever produced for TV. I tip my hat to
retired Detective Bill Clark, the show’s technical advisor.

Q. If you could turn the clock back, would you still join the
police?

A. This is the toughest question I’ve ever answered. The
world has changed drastically since I was sworn in forty-six years ago. I’m
able to say that I know now what I didn’t know then. I liked it back in the
1970s, ‘80s and early 90s. I started my career on the tail end of the “wild and
wooly” days. I won’t say it was like working in Dodge City alongside Wyatt
Earp, but things were very different then they are today. Victims were more
important than defendants. The cops I worked with possessed good technical
educations and received continuous in-service training. They knew how to do the
job and serve the people who paid our salaries. We gave back more than we made.
I’m not sure that’s possible today. That sounds like a world-class tap dance,
but I really don’t know if I’d do it all again with totally new rules.

Q. What do you miss most about the police service?

A. Investigating serious crimes was like a combination of
working a complicated puzzle and painting a piece of artwork. I miss the
opportunity of creating an investigative masterpiece. That didn’t always
happen, but occasionally everything would come together perfectly and voila!
you held in your hand a finished product worthy of Hollywood. Those days are
gone, but I’d still like the opportunity to do it again—the old-fashioned way.
So, I let my protagonist, Sam Jenkins, a retired detective lieutenant from New
York solve those really complex and convoluted crimes from his small police
department in the foothills of the Smokies.

Q. What drove you to begin a writing career? I presume you
had retired from the police when you started publishing your books.

A. After I retired and our new home was completed, I found I
had time on my hands. I took a volunteer job at a Tennessee state park, a place
featuring the reconstructed, westernmost British military outpost in the
American colonies, and ended up writing publicity for their living history
programs. I did that for ten years, having twenty-six non-fiction magazine
articles published. I thought it was pretty slick getting paid by those
magazines to write. But after ten years, I ran out of thrilling things to say about
the French & Indian War (Seven Years War for you Brits) in Tennessee and
passed the baton to another volunteer. After stepping down, I again needed a
creative outlet, but didn’t have houseroom to store a bunch of model airplanes
or oil paintings. So, my wife, Barbara, suggested trying my hand at writing
fiction, using my old cases as a basis for my stories. The transition wasn’t as
smooth as I envisioned, but here I am today with nine novels and twenty-seven
novelettes on the shelf.

Q. Tell us about your main characters. Are they based on real
people or a product of the imagination?

A. Sam Jenkins and I share a lot of similarities—from our
days in the Army to our time in a large police department. But we are totally
different characters. My stories are not autobiographical. I use Sam to cheat
the writing process. He gets my voice. He says things much as I would, and in
the technical aspects, he does what I would have done. The other regular
characters (and some of the non-recurring bad guys) are based on people I knew.
It’s easier to write their dialogue if I can see them in my mind and hear them.
I then can duplicate their voices and delivery styles.

Q. What do you feel are the greatest challenges facing any
writer at the present time?

A. Easy question. For many, writing is fun. Some authors,
when inspired, can knock out stories or books at alarming rates. Then we choose
the vehicle that gets our work into print—traditional or self-publishing.
Regardless of the method, we all get down to the next phase—promoting and
marketing our literature.

That is too much like work. But
it’s a reality. You can write the best piece of fiction since the ODDESSY, but
if no one knows you or your book, you’re up $h!# Creek. A writer must
learn how to market their books. And it’s not like it was fifty years ago. Traditional
book signings are only a small part of the modern process. We need to be up to
the minute or languish with mediocre sales.

Q. Do you have an office or ‘space’ where you write from and
is it at home, or elsewhere?

A. I’d love to have a “writer’s cottage” in which to spend my
working time, but I’m afraid the closest I come is a wingback chair in the
living room with a legal pad and cheap ballpoint pen. And if it’s after 4 p.m.
in some part of the world, a glass of single-malt whisky sitting next to me on
a lamp table.

Then, when I enter phase two, and because only two women from
my former life have ever been able to decipher my handwriting (and they are
nowhere near Tennessee) I adjourn to our computer room to transpose my scribbling
onto a Word Document. I’m lucky to be one of the ex-detectives in the world who
can still type thirty words a minute with more than two fingers.

Q. Do you write to a target – word count – every day, or do
you have another writing discipline that you could share with us?

A. I’m afraid for a guy who lived all of his adult working
life in a military or paramilitary organizations, I’m horribly undisciplined
when it comes to writing. I have no goals, no routines and no structure. When the
words come, I write them and don’t stop. When I lack inspiration, I would just
as soon cut the lawn or tend the vegetable garden.

Nonetheless, I know when my publisher needs a manuscript for
a book to be published at a time most advantageous. So, I work to finish by
that deadline.

Q. Which of the books that you have written so far is your
favourite and what can you tell us about it without giving the game away?

A. I’ve been asked this often and my answer changes as time
goes on. As with any craft, those who engage in it should get better with
practice and experience. I really like my last published novel, HONOR AMONG
THIEVES. It deals with the organized crime we old-timers knew best—The Mafia. People
from Sam’s former life come back to visit, and in some cases haunt him. Here’s
the cover blurb the publisher has chosen to pique reader’s interest:

What
does a good cop do when his name and phone number are found in the pocket of a
dead mobster from his past?

Does
he cooperate with the Internal Affairs investigator who wants to charge him
with murder, but appears to have an ulterior motive?

Does
he launch his own investigation into this murder from another jurisdiction to
clear his name and find the real killer?

Does
learning that two former enemies have put a contract on his life complicate
matters?

But I also really like the last anthology of six novelettes
that Melange Books, LLC published—GRACELAND ON WHEELS and More Sam Jenkins
Mysteries. I love those ten to eleven thousand word stories. Creating them is almost
like writing scripts for a weekly TV series. Many of them have been produces as
one hour audio books. The stories in GRACELAND run the gamut—from Gypsy con men
to gun show hustlers to professional billiard players to my hero catching a
dead Elvis impersonator while fishing for trout. Since it’s the subject of
choice in most police procedurals, I toss in a murder for each story.

Q. What can you tell us about your forthcoming publication?

A. A BLEAK PROSPECT is loosely based on a series of murders
on long Island all attributed to one killer who has never been arrested. I’ve
theorized about a possible solution and also tapped my former partner, now a
retired detective, for a few ideas that provided me with scenes or vignettes
that help me showcase some authentic police work. And because this is the
eighth novel in the series, I figured it was time to shake up the world of
Prospect PD and create a “life-will-never-be-the-same” moment. Here’s the
summary for that one:

A
serial killer dubbed The Riverside Strangler by the Knoxville press corps has
murdered eight Internet prostitutes in East Tennessee, the most recent found
floating in Prospect’s Crystal Creek.

Chief Sam
Jenkins joins a task force led by the county’s chief deputy, Ryan Leary, a cop
known for his flamboyant police work and questionable methods.

When
investigators hit a stone wall in the case, the killer strikes again—or was it
a copycat? The type of victim and location follow the Strangler’s pattern, but
some details are significantly different.

During the
investigation, Leary is charged in a bizarre and seemingly unrelated case of
police brutality and relieved of duty. Sam is faced with assuming command of
the task force or turning over responsibility to the FBI.

The
outcome of the case and subsequent actions taken by the Prospect City Council
affect everyone at Sam’s police department and suggest that life there will
never be the same.

My publisher just sent me the sales links for the book with
the actual launch date set for April 24th. The book is available as
a eBook or in print.

Q. When you have finished writing the book – what do you do
next? By that I mean, do you edit the book yourself? Do you design your own
book cover? Do you prepare a project plan to market your book?

A. After I have what I consider a finished product, I do
another self-edit before sending a proposal letter to my publisher. Once she
passes judgement on my prospectus, I send her the complete manuscript. From
there I get a contract and the manuscript is sent to my editor for a place on
her list of things to do. Somehow everything (edits, cover art, eBook and hard
copy formatting, preparation for the sales sites, etc.) all gets done by the
busy beavers at Melange Books and the new book is released within that
projected sixty day window for publication.

As soon as I receive the pre-order discount sales links, I
send out a mass email to my subscribers and hit the social media sites to
announce the new book.

Q. What is the best piece of advice you could give to someone
starting out on a writing career?

A. This
question is often asked by interviewers and I like to give something to those
who are just starting out because the publishing world can be a pretty lonely place
for someone making that initial foray into it.
The best practical advice I can offer a new writer isn’t my original
thought. I learned this reading an interview with Robert B. Parker. When asked
why his books were so popular, Parker gave a simple answer, ‘Because they sound
good.’ Most of my novelettes were destined for audio books and had to sound
good when read by an actor. So, I knew exactly what Bob Parker meant.

Here’s my
recommendation on how to produce a classy piece of work. When you think your
story, novelette, novella, novel, or epic is finished, when you truly believe
you’ve found and corrected all the typos and nits and it’s ready to sell, go
back and read it aloud to yourself. Pretend you’re the star of your own audio
book. Read it slowly and professionally as an actor would. Then, ask yourself,
does it sound good? Do all the paragraphs smoothly transcend to the next? Does
each sentence contain the right number of syllables? Does each word flow into
the next without conflict? Does it have
a pleasing rhythm? Basically, does it sing to you? For a guy who doesn’t dance
very well, I have a great need for rhythm in my writing. If you notice any
“bumps,” go back and rewrite it. Smooth everything out. If something bothers
you now, it will annoy the hell out of you in the future and someone else will
probably notice it, too.

With that
accomplished, you’re finished, right? No. Now you’re ready to hand it off to a
freelance editor or proof-reader—whomever you can afford if you’re
self-publishing, or to the editor assigned to you by your traditional
publishing house. A second pair of eyes is essential for ANY writer.

Q. If you were gifted an air ticket to ‘anywhere’, which
destination would you choose above all others and why?

A. My wife and I love to travel and we go to many different
places. But if you force me to narrow my destination to only one, I’d have to
say, I’d go back to your neck of the woods in a heartbeat. We haven’t been to
the UK in a few years because air travel nowadays is difficult (for several
reasons) but I’d love to land in Manchester, spend a week in the Lake District
and then head up to Scotland for another week or two. That’s my idea of a good
vacation—even if I have to drive on the “wrong” side of the road.

Q. If you could invite three people from history to a dinner
party. Who would you invite and why?

A. Another tough question. There are so many interesting people
in history whom shall I choose? I guess the late Robert B. Parker influenced my
writing more than anyone else, so adding him to the dinner party would be
essential. Then I suppose it would be interesting to see what an actor who’s
played a detective for a long time thinks about the literary genre and what his
outsider’s view of the real job is like. How about John Thaw who played Chief
Inspector Morse for so many years? And then a person who’s still alive—just to
give me some real company and because of his own philosophy on the creative
process, I’d like to hear what Woody Allen has to say about writing books or
producing films that were designed more to satisfy himself than with an eye on
pleasing the masses who inhabit the modern trendy marketplace.

Q. What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing,
marketing, or being involved with your book business?

A. As mentioned two questions earlier, we love to travel, and
many of the venues we pick offer excellent fishing. So, we usually sign up with
a local charter boat captain or fishing guide and head out to stock up the
freezer with wild caught fish. I particularly like what we call “big water”
fishing—inshore or near-shore saltwater spots or to any of the Great Lakes
looking for king-sized lake trout, brown trout or salmon and steelhead.

Q. Can you provide any links to your purchase site, website,
blog site, or any social media sites that might be of interest to readers?

A. I’ve got a bunch, but first I like to offer your
subscribers a chance to meet Sam Jenkins and the girls and boys of Prospect,
Tennessee for free. My publisher has graciously agreed to provide the first
book in the series, A NEW PROSPECT at no cost. All you have to do is visit https://waynezurl.authorreach.com/lead/af2d19f7
provide an email address and pick the version of eBook you prefer. From there,
I hope you spend time at Prospect PD more often.

Tuesday, 13 March 2018

A. I left school shortly after my fifteenth birthday after being offered a one year trial period as an apprentice motor mechanic. I had no qualifications, but I had a job! During an indentured apprenticeship, I had the good fortune to be educated at Oxford as well as Cambridge! In reality, it was training at the Morris Cowley and Austin Cambridge engine works in the service and repair of Automatic and Transverse transmission systems! For many years I was the Honorary Secretary of the Institute of the Motor Industry for the Nottinghamshire region, and an Engineer registered with the Engineering Council UK as a Master Automotive Engineer. I taught Engineering Sciences to Foundation Degree at West Nottinghamshire College and was a Consulting Automotive Engineer called upon numerous occasions to give expert witness testimony in Crown, Magistrates and County Courts. I graduated with PGCertEd from Nottingham Trent University. I lived and worked in Nottingham before moving to North Norfolk with my wife to write fictional novels. We have a son and three lovely grandchildren.

Q. What drove you to begin a writing career?

A. I realized that while working as a lecturer and consulting engineer I must have written dozens of books worth of boring educational documents, vehicle reports and the like. When I moved to Norfolk I needed to be suitably occupied and decided to write something more entertaining.

Q. What do you feel are the greatest challenges facing any writer at the present time?

A. The greatest challenge for a writer today is finding a genuine agent - an agent capable of pushing a novel in the right direction for it to be noticed and considered for publication. When I say "publication", I mean for a reasonable profit without being "trotted on" by the vanity brigade. However, the advent of the computer has produced thousands if not millions of prospective bestselling authors. Agents must be knee-deep in manuscripts, some brilliant, some good, and others - well ... I'm probably one of them!

Q. Do you have an office or 'space' where do you write from and is it at home, or elsewhere?

A. I write from home, a small flint-stone cottage in a tiny village in the wilds of Norfolk. Someone knocked on the door three weeks ago; they had the wrong address! I sit in an easy chair with my laptop balanced on my knee and a small round table for my notepad and cuppa ... or glass of red! Yeah, thinking about it I must be one of those who are attempting to bury the poor literary agents in gobbledygook, but to their great misfortune, there's much more to come!

Q. Do you write to a target - word count - every day, or do you have another writing discipline that you could share with us?

A. Regarding progress objectives, I would sooner count chapters per month from a scheme of work than a daily word count. It's probably a hangover from my lecturing days. I know how I want the story to go, so I sketch the plot out roughly and then, working from the SOW, I expand and paint the word pictures in. It could be better described as a "building" a book rather than writing it! I'm not too frightened to scrub large amounts of work if I'm not achieving the objective. This does not set me back in my opinion but sets me on the right path for a wicked twist at the end.

Q. Do you write from imagination, personal experience, or a mixture?

A. I write from a mixture of imagination, personal experience and research. I like the storylines in my novels to have a feeling of truth, so the events and incidents are all possible if a little fanciful. To that end, I draw from a lifetime of experiences and interweave them with daydreams ... sometimes nightmares!

Q. Which of the books that you have written so far is your favourite and what can you tell us about it without giving the game away?

A. Out of my published novels, BELIEVE ME! The Lost Treasure of the Templars is my favourite. It involves plenty of historical facts and what I hope will come over as a fast-moving mystery-thriller. It involves biker-gangs, espionage, lost treasure and a cypher all interwoven with a tender love story. During the research for the book I happened upon a castle that appeared to be named after a Templar symbol, and then an island flooded by the sea in exactly the right time frame. My imagination ran riot and hey-presto I had a book!

Q. Do you have a 'work in progress' that you would like to tell us about?

A. My work in progress at the moment is THE WATCHER. It's a murder-mystery novel set in Victorian England. It involves a young boy who is abused by his grandfather and later suffers PTSD before the disorder was even known about. The novel differs from having a long prologue in two parts written in the third person before changing dramatically to the first person in chapter one for effect.

Q. When you have finished writing the book - what do you do next? By that I mean, do you edit the book yourself? Do you design your own book cover? Do you prepare a project plan to market your book?

A. When I've finished writing THE WATCHER, I will proof read and edit it myself due to the cost. I will choose a stock photo similar to what I did with another novel of mine, THE BLADE. I did the editing, proof reading the lot on that one. All my energy is channeled into my writing at the moment and I have made no marketing plans to date.

Q. What is the best piece of advice could you give to someone starting out on a writing career?

A. Do not try to make writing a career, you could be sorely disheartened. Start writing as a worthwhile hobby and who knows? It could blossom into an amazing and rewarding occupation!

Q. If you were gifted an air ticket to 'anywhere', which destination would you choose above all others and why?

A. BELIEVE ME! An air ticket to New York would come in mighty handy. I could take a copy of my novel and place it where the editor of the NY Times would trip over it!

Q. If you could invite three people from history to a dinner party. Who would you invite and why?

A. My first guest would be Our Hero, Admiral Lord Nelson. My reason would be to ask him what he actually said on his deathbed; whether it was "Kiss me Hardy" or "Kismet Hardy"! I'm sure it would also be thrilling to hear first-hand about his close-action sea-battles.

Guest number two would be the beautiful and courageous Edith Cavell, a nurse from Norfolk and daughter of a vicar. She was executed by firing squad in Brussels during WW1 after being falsely accused of treason. She was helping injured soldiers escape from hell! Edith Cavell nursed all soldiers regardless of nationality, one of her maxims being "... patriotism is not enough ... I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone". My reason for inviting her would be that she might teach us humility, compassion and integrity, which seems so rare today.

Guest number three would be Django Reinhardt the gypsy guitarist. He could provide the music, and possibly sneak Stéphane Grappelli in through the back door!

Q. What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing, marketing, or being involved with your book business?

A. I enjoy reading, a good glass of wine, testing micro-brewery beers, and if I get the chance, playing guitar! I also enjoy DIY building; With the help of my wife, I've restored our old cottage and built an extension.

Q. Can you provide any links to your purchase site, website, blog site, or any social media sites that might be of interest to readers?

Wednesday, 7 March 2018

A big welcome today to Carolyn M Bowen, crime fiction writer, author, and blogger extraordinaire ...Q. Can you tell us a little about yourself, Carolyn?

A. I'm a sassy, ​​southern woman who loves life, family, friends and spinning a great story.

Q. What drove you to begin a writing career?

A. I've known I was a writer since probably twelve years old.

Q. What do you feel are the greatest challenges facing any writer at the present time?

A. I think the greatest challenge for writers right now is book marketing. Although there are more options than ever before, it requires diligent effort to keep your books in the forefront.

Q. Do you have an office or 'space' where do you write from and is it at home, or elsewhere?

A. I enjoy traveling and often get ideas for novels during that time. I write whenever the mood strikes whether at home or on the road.

Q. Do you write to a target - word count - every day, or do you have another writing discipline that you could share with us?

A. I do not have a target word count for every day. I write until I'm done with the scenes I wanted to complete for the day.

Q. Do you write from imagination, personal experience, or a mixture?

A. I write from inspiration which is a combination of my imagination and personal experience.

Q. Which of the books that you have written so far is your favorite and what can you tell us about it without giving the game away?

A. At this time, The Long Road Home, a romantic murder mystery novel, is my favorite. It's a fast, riveting mystery thriller that you will not soon forget.

Q. Do you have a 'work in progress' that you would like to tell us about?

A. I am working on a new mystery that will be another crime fiction novel.

Q. When you have finished writing the book - what do you do next? By that I mean, do you edit the book yourself? Do you design your own book cover? Do you prepare a project plan to market your book?

A. After finishing my manuscript, I edit then hire a professional editor, book cover designer and get ready to market my new book from the project plan.

Q. What is the best piece of advice could you give to someone starting out on a writing career?

A. The best advice is to keep reading and writing.

Q. If you were gifted an air ticket to 'anywhere', which destination would you choose above all others and why?

A. I would travel to Europe and experience all the wonderful food, adventure, sightseeing, shopping, and more.

Q. If you could invite three people from history to a dinner party. Who would you invite and why?

A. 1) Lena Horne: to learn about her life experiences and perhaps some soulful jazz music after the dinner party. 2) Ernest Hemingway: for his love of adventure, reading and writing. 3) JD Salinger: for his advice to writers from personal experience. It would be fun to listen to their interaction during the dinner party.

Q. What do you enjoy doing when you are not writing, marketing, or being involved with your book business?

A. Traveling during and after tending to book business!

Q. Can you provide any links to your purchase site, website, blog site, or any social media sites that might be of interest to readers?

Yes, this is the link to my blog where readers can learn more about my writing adventures. Carolyn Bowen - The Writing Life: http://bit.ly/CBAuthor

Here's some of Carolyn's book covers. Do not forget to follow the link above to discover mroe about Carolyn.